January Reading: Cozy Children's Classics
Revisiting old friends from the Big Woods to Middle Earth
Last month, in December, I did some spiritual reading for Advent, and I have a line-up of Regency era classics I’m hoping to get to next month in February, so I decided to let January be a chill, mood reading month, filled with some old (and new-to-me) favorite children’s books.
I’ve been hunting down my copy of Little House in the Big Woods and was so delighted to find it in time to read during the winter season. So many of the chapters take place in the chilly months, yet Laura Ingalls Wilder always leaves you feeling cozy…
“The air was cold and frosty and the light was gray, when Laura and Mary and Ma with Baby Carrie were tucked in snug and warm under the robes on the straw in the bottom of the sled.
The horses shook their heads and pranced, making the sleigh bells ring merrily, and away they went on the road through the Big Woods to Grandpa’s. The snow was damp and smooth in the road, so the sled slipped quickly over it, and the big trees seemed to be hurrying by on either side.
After awhile there was sunshine in the woods and the air sparkled. The long streaks of yellow light lay between the shadows of the tree trunks, and the snow was colored faintly pink. All the shadows were thin and blue, and every little curve of snowdrifts and every little track in the snow had a shadow.”
It’s hard to choose just one favorite scene: the sugar snow and the dance, the little girls playing house with the pumpkins in the attic, Pa’s stories, or Ma slapping “Sukey” the cow one dark night…only to find it was not a cow but a great big bear!
Another children’s book I read this month was The Valley of Song by Elizabeth Goudge. I bought the Girls Gone By Publishers paperback awhile ago and just now got around to reading it.
One description summarized the plot as fairy folk helping a town to build a ship, but, after reading the book, I feel that synopsis is so simplistic as to be almost inaccurate! The Valley of Song is Elizabeth Goudge’s vision of earthly paradise, how it’s connected to heavenly paradise, what mankind’s place is in it all, the protective forces surrounding each one of us because of God’s great love for us, and the spiritual necessity of creative work.
“The pearly light of dawn was just creeping into her room and the birds were singing, and she knew there was something she had to do at once. She always had these abrupt awakenings when there was something to be done, and even though she had gone to bed the night before knowing nothing about it, she always knew what it was by the time she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. It was her belief that some sort of a fairy person lived with her, taking care of her, and that if there was something particular that she ought to do, then the person came and sat beside her while she slept and told her about it, so that when she woke up she knew at once what it was. Always, when the sleep was out of her eyes, she looked quickly round to see if the person was still in her room. But she never saw anything, except occasionally a sunbeam dancing on the floor.”
I thought it was just magical, although I would warn that it is quite description-heavy. It’s as if Goudge didn’t want one single flower petal from her vision to be lost! It is beautiful and uplifting; I particularly loved how she wove in the zodiac creatures in such an unusual way.
Speaking of unusual creatures, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was a memorable January reread, and it was so much fun to discuss it with subscribers during our book club chat! The “fellowship” that Bilbo falls in with is quite different from the group that shares Frodo’s quest, and of course the flavor of The Hobbit is quite different from The Lord of the Rings. I loved getting to spend more time with the dwarves and the eagles. Even the courtly and riddling conversation with that dragon, “Smaug the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities,” was enjoyable…at least when you’re wearing a magic ring. 😉
One last children’s book I just read this past weekend: White Boots by Noel Streatfeild! I wouldn’t rank this as highly as Dancing Shoes…I found the plot was slow to pick up and continued slow throughout, but it is still charming. I love the character Lalla, and I wish I could be invited over for tea, “a special tea with three sorts of sandwiches, chocolate biscuits, and a cake covered with pink icing.” Lalla’s skating outfits also sound darling! Unfortunately the weather hasn’t been cold enough for the lakes near me to freeze; otherwise I would have been out doing some skating myself this month.
February should be full of exciting reading and Febregency fun, and later in the month I’ll be starting on The Cloud of Unknowing for a Lenten readalong. Let me know about your reading plans in the comments down below. Hope you all had a wonderful January!